Discussion Forums  >  Self Hosted Control Panels

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tompos
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02/08/22 09:56 AM (2 years ago)

Updates of apps in my self-hosted server

Hi from Germany, it has been a while since I posted my last comments... (btw... hi Susan! Nice to read you!). I have 2 apps for clients in the app stores (both iOS & Android) that I last updated in 2018. Both apps are hosted on my self-hosted-server (mainly because I use many self-developed plugins for specific functionality). My clients are pretty happy with the apps, the BT-backend allows them to update the apps on a regular basis. As you may guess... the time has come to upload new versions to the app stores (one app was removed by Apple due to an "outdated version", the other needs updates of content that can not be modified by the backend). Here are my questions: 1) Up to 2018 I could do such upgrades within my downloaded source code (+ my own plugins) with pretty small modifications. Now it seems as if I need a download of the major code to be compliant with modern Xcode version etc. Is that correct? 2) I guess I need to install a "patch" of my self-hosted software to do that. Is that correct... and is there a documentation how this is done? 3) (Susan has asked that before... but this is the next step) If I download the source code from my self-hosted server, it will have access to the latest version of the BT core? 4) Of course, I know that I have to adapt my own plugins to the lastest version... but that's the final step. Thanks in advance for your help! Thomas
 
Cakebit
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02/08/22 02:16 PM (2 years ago)
Hi Thomas! Glad to hear from you, hope all is well. :) 1). You may still be able to use your previously downloaded source-code as long as you're within the same major revision– (we're at BTv4 right now, so you might still be ok if you downloaded the source recently)... then I'd recommend downloading a newer build of your app and using a code comparison tool (for example FileMerge comes with Xcode when you install the Developer Tools) to merge in any new patches we've released since then. 2). / 3). You may not need to patch the Self Hosted panel unless you want to (or are required for code compatibility reasons)... when you request to download your source code, you'll receive the latest stable build of your app's source (currently 4.0.5 for iOS, 4.0.3 for Android). Self Hosted servers currently run 4.0.3 as the latest patch. 4. Correct, you may have to make changes based on any deprecations or changes required by the minimum deployment version you're targeting. (For example when Apple deprecated UIWebView: https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=edwud51q) Feel free to reach out if you have any questions along the way– and maybe check the forums here soon there's some stuff in the works for Self Hosted panels.
 
tompos
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02/09/22 02:20 AM (2 years ago)
Hi, thanks for the quick response! Awesome! (1) Well... the last time I downloaded the source code was about 3 years ago. I had a look at the version and it says 4.0.3. So the code comparison tool might be used to see the differences in the core components of the BT code that you made since then. In the past I sometimes took the opposite approach: I downloaded a pretty "empty" project from buzztouch.com without any additional custom plugins and added (and updated) my own plugin code from the previous version. Right now I downloaded the project from my self-hosted server and found it to have version 4.0.5, so that might be a good starting point for code comparison. (2)/(3) Well... then I choose not to patch the Self Hosted panel (never touch a running system ;-) ). (4) Yes... these are the changes I have expected... Thanks again – I will definitely check the Forum more often than in the past. Thomas
 
Cakebit
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02/09/22 01:21 PM (2 years ago)
Sounds great! If you look in the new source code bundle you downloaded, there's a file named RELEASE-NOTES.txt that contains an overview of what changes have been made in each subsequent patch (in this case 4.0.4 and 4.0.5) so that you can get an idea of what compatibility changes or fixes were made in between the version you last built with. :) If you're using any of the plugins in the BT_Screens folder (without modifications), you may just want to copy those over from a newer bundle so you can build with the latest plugin versions for the default ones included with the source code (again, any fixes were specified in the release notes). Cheers!
 
Susan Metoxen
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05/27/22 09:44 AM (2 years ago)
Hey, Thomas, how are you doing? I'm pretty much out of the app business now...I've been making websites and teaching Web Development. Cakebit, congrats on the update to the iOS! Thanks for keeping it up.
 
tompos
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01/12/24 05:01 AM (11 months ago)
Hi, I just get back to this post. Meanwhile there is one app left in my self-hosted server. My initiative to update the app 2 years ago had been stopped when my client reduced the priority of the project. Now he decided to make some modifications to the app and I would like to get up-to-date with the current BT versions. Here are my questions: 1. (iOS) I see that the version within my self-hosted server is at 4.0.3, while a download from buzztouch.com shows 4.0.6. Are the steps still validate that you (Cakebit) mentioned above to update my app? Or ist there any update on patches etc. for self-hosted servers? 2. (iOS) I plan to use Xcode 14.2 for that step. The 4.0.6 version from buzztouch.com should work fine with that Xcode version, right? 3. (iOS & Android) We used InApp-Purchases within that app. Last year we received the notification from the Google PlayStore that "we need to migrate to Play Billing Library Version 5 or higher" in order to use that functionality in the future. Has anyone used the InApp purchase plugins with that new library recently? Best wishes Thomas
 

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